Corona University
by Light of the Dawn
Summary: The Big Four take on Corona University in this modern college/university AU setting. Join Hiccup, Merida, Jack and Rapunzel as they figure out university and life living away from their parents. It's the one where they all go to University! A little bit inspired by F.R.I.E.N.D.S. as well. In the style of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., will include many ships throughout the course of the story.
1. The One Where Everyone Moves In

**Inspired by my current obsession: the Big Four. Also by FRIENDS, another obsession of mine.**

**I do not own Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks.**

* * *

"Oh, darling, are you sure you want to do this? You know you don't have to. I'll understand if you want to wait another year to go off to school." The raven-haired woman told her petite blonde daughter, gently touching her under the chin.

"I-" she began, but the raven-haired woman wasn't finished speaking yet.

"Nobody will judge you if you want to take courses at the community college so you can stay at home with me."

"But-"

"Or you could do online courses. I'll buy you a brand new tablet to go with your new laptop! And what's that game that you like? Photostore?"

"Photoshop, mother, and it's not a game, it's an application."

"Ah, yes, _Photoshop_." she said with a nod. "See, you can do everything from home, and then you don't even have to leave home! I'll be here to look after you the entire time!"

The girl glanced down as though she was considering the proposal, then shook her head. "Mother, I've already put this off once – if I don't do it now, I might never do it!"

"And what's wrong with that, sweetheart? You can stay right here with me and never have to go through all that silly leaving home stuff that all those other kids do. You won't have to worry about not making it – I mean, what if you fail, darling? Or if you don't have enough money? What would you do? And groceries – you've never gone shopping on your own before – what if you run out of money?"

"Mother, I have to _try_."

"Well, if you can live with a clear conscience after abandoning your poor old mumsy all alone in a big, lonely house in the middle of nowhere, then don't let me stop you."

"I'll call you twice a day."

"But I'll forget your pretty face, my widdle chubby bunny." the raven-haired woman patted the blonde's cheeks and spoke to her as though she was a small child.

"We can skype every day."

"Skype? You mean on the computer? Oh, I don't know how to use all those newfangled technological do-dads!" Then she made a face as though she had just had an idea. "Oh, I know! You could stay home and teach me how to use it so that we'll be all ready for next year."

"I have to do this." the blonde said finally, picking up the cage from the table beside her and giving her mother a determined nod. "This is really what I want, mother, _please_ try to understand."

Her raven-haired mother sighed, and gave her a disappointed look before she nodded and picked up her car keys from the table. "Alright."

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Hiccup picked up the small black kitten and cupped it against his chest for a moment, running a finger over its velvety smooth ears affectionately. "Not long now, Toothless."

The kitten mewled in protest as Hiccup placed the cat in a cardboard box. He'd put a few of his sweaters in the box so that the cat would have something soft to sleep on, as well as something that smelled like his master to comfort him. Then, dropping one of the cat's stuffed toys into the box with him, he closed the flaps of the box and hoped the kitten would be quiet on the car ride to Corona.

His father hated cats with a passion, and Hiccup was pretty sure his father sped up when he saw a cat crossing the road. Although, it wasn't his father that was taking him to Corona that day; Stoick was working today - he was always working. He was the Chief of the Berk fire department and he was there more often than he was at the two bedroom bungalow he shared with his son, Hiccup.

Hiccup supposed that was a good thing - it was hard enough hiding Toothless in the house as it was when his father was hardly ever home. If his father spent any more time at home, Hiccup was almost sure that his secret would have been discovered and he wouldn't have a cat to hide in the cardboard box in his hands.

"Is tha' the las' of 'em?" Asked a large blonde male with a long handlebar mustache. When he nodded, he reached for the box. "We'll jus' throw it on the top then."

Hiccup jerked the box back and out of the former mechanic's hands. Gunnar Belch, affectionately called "Gobber" by everyone who knew him, was a mechanic turned firefighter who still did some mechanic's work in his spare time, mostly to ensure that the fire station's motorized objects - such as the fire trucks - remained in working order.

"Uh, sorry, I just have. . . uh. . . photos! Yes, that's what I have in this box! Very special and important photos that could get broken so I'll just keep them on my lap, okay? Okay. Wow, it's really warm out here, so we should probably get going."

"Righ'." Gobber said, shaking his head at the high-strung boy as he slammed shut the back of his SUV.

The sound of the front door to the house closing brought the attention of both men to the front of the house, where Hiccup's bearded father stood. He met his son's eyes for a moment.

"Dad-" Hiccup began in an attempt to break the awkward silence that followed the momentary eye contact.

"There's . . . a fire in the east end." Stoick said at last, cutting off his son mid-sentence in what seemed to be his own attempt at breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh, well, I guess you'd better . . . go then." Hiccup said, unable to mask the disappointment in his tone.

"Yes." Stoick with an awkward nod.

Hiccup pursed his lips, and glanced down at the box in his hands, catching a glimpse of one apple-green eye staring up at him from between the interlocked slats. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Uh, farewell and all that. Have fun with . . . the fires and stuff. Ok, bye Dad."

Then, in a desperate attempt to escape the uncomfortable feelings that the three of them were caught in, Hiccup hurried to the passenger's side door of Gobber's SUV and got in. Stoick nodded and walked to the back of Gobber's car, which was parked next to Stoick's dark blue Dodge Ram, pausing next to his friend.

"He's not goin' ta make it on his own."

Gobber shrugged. "Ye never know, Stoick. He might surprise ye."

Stoick made a noncommittal grunt as he made his way to the driver's side door of his truck. He turned left on the street, and Gobber turned right. Hiccup couldn't help thinking that it was rather symbolic that they'd turned in different directions on the street - they were going their separate ways in more ways than one. As he watched his father's truck disappearing from sight in the rearview mirror, he found himself wondering if his father would actually miss him.

* * *

"Dad, won't ye speak ta her for me, please?" The fiery redhead begged her father, dropping to her knees with her hands clasped together in the typical begging pose. "Ah don't want ta do it, Dad! I mean – _political sciences_? Of all the programs to force me into-"

"Merida, a lady does nae squat on the floor." The redhead's brunette mother chose to enter the room at that moment, and gave her daughter a stern look.

"Ach, _Mum_, a _Lady_?" Merida groaned in protest.

"And we've already discussed this. As the daughter of a Lord _and_ a Member of Parliament, yer expected to be _educated_."

"I'd still be educated if ye let me pick ma own program." Merida said, giving her mother a pleading look.

"A lady does nae frown – you'll get dreadful frown-lines." she told her. "And _archery_ does not count as education."

"What university even offers a program for archery? None! Trus' me, Ah've checked!" Merida retorted indignantly, crossing her arms. "But I would nae choose a program as _god-awful_ as _political sciences_."

Her mother ignored her comment and turned to the girl's ruddy-haired father. "Fergus, the boys and Ah have been waiting ages for the two of ye ta meet us at the car."

"Ye left _the triplets unsupervised_ with the _car_? With ma stuff?!" Merida asked in alarm, on her feet in an instant.

"Of course not," she scoffed. "Maudie's with them."

"Maudie?" Merida repeated in disbelief, and as fast as she could possibly move in the charcoal pencil skirt and grey pumps her mother had dressed her in that day, she fled the hotel room before anyone could say another word.

"It's just as well." the brunette said with a satisfied nod. "It's almost time for her ta get her key. Now, come on Fergus - stop dallying!"

"Me – dallying?" Fergus sputtered indignantly.

"Oh hush." she scolded him as the two made their way from the hotel suite in which they were staying.

* * *

Sitting in the passenger's seat as they drove through the city of Corona, the boy's pale blue eyes were staring dully at the shops and streets, the markets and coffee shops, the restaurants and fast food chains, the houses and apartments as they flashed by the red minivan.

He almost seemed in a trance, because when the vehicle finally came to a stop and the boy remained as he had been for the past hour and a half – just staring out the window with glazed eyes.

"Jack, we're here." The car's driver, a bearded man with a heavy Russian accent, told him.

The boy blinked, then shook his head. "Oh, uh, thanks, North."

"Don't mention it, my boy!" his foster father told him. "Would you like me to stick around, help you move your stuff into your new 'pad'?"

Jack paused a moment, then pulled his worn blue backpack up onto his lap from its place on the floor of the car by his feet. "Not much to move, really."

"I am very sad to see you go, but I told myself when I met you – I said 'North, this boy is destined for great things!' and so you are!"

"It's just school."

"But school will take you to greatness. I see it. You will be big man, very important."

He almost smiled as he opened the door to the vehicle and hopped onto the sidewalk. Pulling his backpack on over his classic navy hoodie, he opened the back door of the van to grab his suitcase which contained the rest of his possessions.

"You will come back to the Pole to visit, yes?"

"The Pole" was a short name for "North's Pole", which was the name of the group home where Jack had lived for the past twelve years. He never had managed to recall what his life had been like before he'd been taken in by Children's Aid and by Nicholas North. He'd been lost or abandoned when he was six years old, and nobody had ever come to claim his as their own, so after twelve years, everyone assumed the latter.

"Of course." Jack said with a quick nod. He'd visit, but probably not for a long while. He was grateful to North for being the father that he couldn't remember ever having, for giving him a roof over his head, for giving him food and putting clothes on his back – North had given Jack everything. North had even been the one who'd pushed Jack towards Corona U, and lit a metaphorical fire under his ass the past year to make sure he had the grades to get into the program he wanted.

But Jack felt like he'd been mooching off of North for too long. He didn't like owing people anything, and the fact that North was the entire reason that he was anything right now bothered him. He was grateful, but he hated the feeling of being indebted.

Also, North had enough to worry about with an average of ten or twelve fostered children underfoot every day, not to mention a stable full of therapeutic horses. Jack himself had never really got the whole thing with horses helping heal damaged kids, but he'd seen its magic at work numerous times, even if it hadn't actually worked on him.

"The kids will miss you." North told him. "I will miss you."

"No you won't." Jack told him with a joking smile. "I taught the others enough of my tricks – you'll never even notice I'm gone."

"We will Jack, we all will."

"Don't get all sentimental on me now, North." Jack noticed the bearded man hastily wipe his eye before he replied.

"You work hard and you will be great!" North told him through the now-open passenger's side window as Jack closed the sliding door on the side of North's red van. "And remember, my door is always open!"

"See you 'round, North." Jack said, stepping back on the sidewalk with his suitcase.

"Try to stay out of trouble!" North called to him as the fair-haired boy took a few steps away on the sidewalk.

Jack turned back with his signature mischievous smile. "No promises."

And then he made his way into the lobby of his new home.

* * *

**Reviews are love! **


	2. The One Where the Parents Leave

**Inspired by not one but two of my current obsessions: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons / the Big Four and F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Enjoy!**

**I do not own Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks.**

* * *

"Thanks for driving me, Gobber." Hiccup said to the older blonde man with a smile, before having to fake a cough in order to hide the aggravated mewl coming from Toothless's box - wherever it was. A quick glance around his room found the box, and he choked on the bottle of water he was drinking. Toothless's box was on top of his desk - under what he was pretty sure was a box of his books.

After a coughing fit caused by his suddenly inhaling a mouthful of water, Hiccup finally caught his breath. After a panicked look at Toothless' box, Hiccup turned to Gobber. "Oh, wow, it, uh, looks like I'm getting a cold. You should, uh, go before you catch what I have."

"Tryin ta get rid of me already, eh?" Gobber asked with a raised eyebrow. Then he chuckled. "I understand. I'd want ta get rid o' the old guy too if I were living with girls as well."

"That's not - er, I mean: yes! Yes, that is exactly the reason! Wow, you see right through me!"

"Ye'll probably have better luck out here than with that blonde ye like. Ye know, the one who lives next door ta ye? Hofferson's girl - Astrid, isn't it? It'll be good for ye ta set yer sights on someone more attainable."

"Thanks." Hiccup said drily, before faking another cough to hide Toothless's yowl of protest. Putting his hands in his pockets in what could possibly have been the most forced display of nonchalance Hiccup had ever performed. Toothless could suffocate if he didn't get that box off of his soon. "I, uh, think that's everything. Thanks for all your help, Gobber."

"I should get goin', I suppose. Ta beat the traffic." Gobber said, before patting Hiccup on the back with such force that the brunette male stumbled. "Do us all proud, eh, Hiccup?"

"Uh, yeah, definitely!" Hiccup agreed with a quick nod.

Gobber smiled and Hiccup felt tense and hurried as he saw the older blonde man out of the apartment. Then he hurried back to his room and grabbed the box of books that Gobber had put on top of Toothless' box. It was heavier than he'd expected it to be, and he grunted from the weight of it before he tripped over a box on the floor and fell backwards.

Toothless' box flipped off of the desk and onto the floor, and Hiccup groaned under the weight of the box of books on his stomach, pinning him to the floor.

"Are ye alright?" Came a female voice from his doorway. Hiccup glanced over and saw a girl with curly red hair standing in his doorway. A fair-haired boy with an amused look on his face was looking from him, to the redhead to the blonde who was gripping the handle of a wrought-iron frying pan with both hands as though her life depended on it.

Hiccup groaned, and pushed the box sideways off of his body, before scrambling to his feet with an introduction. "I'm Hiccup and you must be my new roommates."

The redhead chuckled. "Hiccup? What kind o' name is tha'?"

"Merida!" heard a female with the same accent as the redhead hiss from the hallway.

"Well, actually, it's Hindrick, but everyone's called me Hiccup for as long as I can remember, so I just go by that."

The redhead cast an annoyed glance at some unseen person in the hallway. Then, she forced a smile and tried a curtsy in her gray pencil skirt and although she was smiling, her teeth were gritted as though it was a chore to introduce herself. "I'm Merida. _Charmed_."

She seemed like a real people person, Hiccup nearly commented sarcastically, but held his tongue.

"Jack." the fair-haired boy said, before turning to the wide-eyed blonde with the frying pan in her hands. "What's with the frying pan?"

"I'm Rapunzel." the blonde told them, before giving Jack a sheepish grin. "It was the only thing I could think of."

"Merida, come on! Yer father and Ah are takin' ye out to dinner before we go back to the hotel." The Scottish woman in the hallway said impatiently, and the redhead in his doorway rolled her eyes.

"Bye." Merida said in an irritated tone, and followed the Scottish woman, although she looked like she'd rather have been doing anything else.

"Rapunzel! Are you going to help me unpack?" Another female voice called.

"Coming mother!" the blonde called, giving both boys a smile before she turned and returned to her own room.

"Wanna ditch?" the boy, Jack, asked.

Hiccup heard Toothless' mewl from the box nearby and shook his head. "I should _really_ unpack before I do anything else."

Jack made a face. 'You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm really very extra sure." Hiccup said, doing his fake cough again to hide yet another of Toothless' protests. "Maybe later?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure, later."

Hiccup sighed and shut his door as the last of his roommates left him in peace. Then, with a relieved sigh, he picked up Toothless' box and pulled open the flaps. As he reached in and picked up the now ill-tempered black kitten, he sighed with relief. "Sorry that took so long, Bud."

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to come home? You don't want to live with _boys_ do you? They're disgusting, vile, wretched creatures, men are."

"Mother, we don't even know them!"

"Exactly, that makes them all the more dangerous! They could be perverts! Pedophiles! Gigolos! Homosexuals!"

"Homosexuals, mother?" Rapunzel asked in a voice that was hardly a whisper.

"Rapunzel, what have I told you about mumbling?"

The girl flinched. "But I don't have anywhere else to stay."

"Oh Rapunzel, come home with me. You'll be safe! You can do all your schooling from home! Come on, I'll help you pack up your stuff, we can start putting it back in the car."

Rapunzel took a deep breath. "_No._ Mother, I've told you that I need to do this. _Please_, try to understand."

"But I'm worried about you, flower."

"Mother, I'll be fine." Rapunzel said with an exasperated sigh, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm sure they're not so bad. They all seem so nice."

* * *

"This is just preposterous. They don't actually expect ye to live with _boys_, do they?" the brunette said, outraged as the family waited for their meals to be brought to them.

"Ah don't see what the big deal is." Merida said, rolling her eyes for what might have been the thousandth time that day.

"Ye are a _lady_!" she told her. "A lady does nae live with men who are not relatives until she is wed!"

"Ach, _Mum_, I don't see what all the fuss is about! We're sharing an apartment, not a bedroom."

Fergus's eyes bulged and he began to choke on his drink. His brunette wife began to pat him on the back as he hacked, desperately trying to catch his breath. The brunette gave her daughter _the look_. "Merida, what a thing ta say at the dinner table!"

Merida groaned and laid her head down on the table.

"Merida! Get yer head off the table!" her mother hissed. "Yer making a scene!"

"Oh, aye, _Ah'm_ the one making a scene." Merida muttered, as she sat up, and instead put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands.

"Sit _up_. Yer a lady and a lady does-"

"-nae slouch." Merida finished her mother's sentence in an annoyed tone. "Ah know, Ah know."

"Then don't do it." she said with a stern look at her daughter, before turning her attention back to her ruddy-haired husband. "Ah will have ta get in touch with the housing department in the mornin' and arrange for her ta swap rooms with someone."

"Ah still don't see what the big deal is."

"It's not proper! Yer going ta have ta change rooms with someone. We can't have ye living in a co-ed residence. Certainly not while yer only eighteen."

Merida sighed in annoyance at the thought of having to move everything again. Glancing down at the table, she took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Ye've done so much already for ma schooling, Mum, why don't Ah handle the room assignment thing?"

"There ye go, Elinor! Let the lass do it herself!" Fergus said, now that he'd stopped choking. His brunette wife, who looked as though she'd been about to speak, closed her mouth. "Ye keep saying how ye want our Merida ta be more responsible! An' there ye go, she's offerin' ta do it herself!"

* * *

"You're sure you'll be alright on your own, flower?" her raven-haired mother asked her for what was probably the hundredth time.

"Yes, mother, I'll be fine." Rapunzel reassured the woman as she'd done each and every time her mother had asked her that question. Her mother was the last parent to leave their new apartment. She hadn't even seen Hiccup's or Jack's parents, and Merida's three young brothers had begun to grow cranky so her parents had bid her adieu and gone back to their hotel room. Rapunzel's mother was still in her room, trying to talk her out of staying.

"I'm going to miss you more than anything." she told her daughter.

"And I'll miss you." Rapunzel answered.

"I love you very much."

"I love you more." Rapunzel said as she wrapped her arms around her mother in what was probably the thousandth goodbye hug she'd given her since they'd finished unpacking everything.

"And I love you most."

And finally, her mother was on her way. Rapunzel walked her to the door of the apartment and gave her mother yet another hug and had to reassure her thrice more that she would be alright on her own.

With a sigh of relief, Rapunzel closed the door behind her mother and leaned on it with a sigh. She was sad to see her mother go, but she'd wanted to just get the goodbye over and done with three hours ago.

And as she came to the realization that her mother was finally leaving her, Rapunzel's lower lips began trembling. She'd never been on her own before, and now she'd sent her mother away. Sure, she was eager to be on her own, to try it for once, but not at the expense of her mother's feelings. It had nearly broken her mother's heart to leave her here all on her own - she'd seen it in her eyes.

"I can do this." She told herself in a whisper, almost ready to open the door and call her mother back, to ask her to stay or to ask her to take her home. "I have to try."

Forcing herself to walk away from the door, Rapunzel found herself in the kitchen, filling a glass with water.

* * *

Hiccup's bed was finally made and he had Toothless' corner set up too. He eventually planned to buy him a cat tree, but for now he'd have to make do with a desk, a dresser and a bed to climb on.

Stretching, Hiccup grabbed a can of cat food from the box of cat supplies he'd brought with him, and made his way to the kitchen. Toothless was napping on the corner of his bed now, but he'd be loud and upset if he woke up and Hiccup didn't have food for him right that instant.

What he wasn't expecting was for the cat to wake up at the sound of his master touching the door handle, and dart under his feet, streaking out into the main part of the apartment like a flash of black lightning.

"Toothless, no!" Hiccup whispered, hurrying out of his room after the feline, which raced into the kitchen and under the kitchen table - right under Rapunzel's feet. The girl screamed in alarm as the black fur brushed against her ankles, and she went from sitting to standing on her chair in about a second and a half.

"RAT!" Rapunzel shrieked in terror.

"It's not a rat, it's a kitten." Hiccup told the girl soothingly as he put the can of cat food on the table. Getting down on his hands and knees, Hiccup crawled under the table after the animal, who then fled from his master.

"A kitten?" Rapunzel repeated, seconds before Merida and Jack showed up from their rooms, armed with a bow and arrows and a hockey stick respectively.

"Where is the rat?" Merida asked, fitting an arrow to her bow and drawing it back to her cheek as she surveyed the room.

"Don't shoot him! Please!" Hiccup cried out in alarm, banging his head on the table as he scrambled to stand up and place himself between his roommates and Toothless. "It's not a rat! It's a cat - a little one!"

Merida lowered her bow almost instantly. "A cat?"

"Uh. . . yes, a cat that I found . . . in my room . . . here."

"Is that where you found the cat food too?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Merida rested the backs of her hands on her hips, because she had a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. "Are ye going ta introduce us, then?"

"He's not exactly good with strangers-" Hiccup began, but the sound of Rapunzel's cooing cut him off mid-sentence and he found the blonde sitting in front of the couch, snuggling Toothless.

"Aww, you're just the sweetest little thing, aren't you? Are you in a big scary place? Yes you are. But don't worry, we'll look after you and keep you safe." Rapunzel told the little cat, which was snuggling contently against Rapunzel's chest.

"How did you?" Hiccup asked in amazement, his mouth agape.

"Huh?" she asked, tucking a lock of long blonde hair behind her ear as she looked up at her roommates. Then she seemed to become shy and she dropped her gaze as though embarrassed. "Oh, I just have a way with animals."

"Ye do know that yer not supposed to have animals in the dorm, right?" Merida reminded him.

"I know, but I just couldn't leave him at home." Hiccup said, turning to Jack and Merida with a pleading look. "You have no idea how much my dad hates cats. If I'd left Toothless at home, I wouldn't have a cat to come home to when I go home."

"Oh, aye, my dad's the same about bears." Merida said.

"Bet you never tried to keep one as a pet though." Jack said with a snort.

Merida pursed her lips and looked away as though she were guilty of something. "Well, actually, one time. . ."

"You had a pet bear?" Rapunzel asked with a gasp.

"It was only a wee one." Merida said. "But Ah couldn't keep him."

"Your dad find out?" Hiccup asked.

"No, but Ah couldn't get him on the plane back ta Scotland, so Ah found a zoo that'd look after the poor little beast."

"So what are we going to do about the cat?" Jack asked, leaning against the wall.

"His name is Toothless." Hiccup said, glancing from Jack to Merida to Rapunzel.

"Well I for one couldn't send this sweet little guy away when he doesn't have another home to go to." Rapunzel said, snuggling with the kitten as she joined her new roommates. "And look guys, isn't he cute?"

"A cat's a cat." Jack answered with a shrug, reaching over and tickling the kitten on the top of the head. "Yeah, I guess he can stay."

"Oh, aye, we can keep him. He _is_ pretty cute." Merida said, smiling. Her smile vanished when she reached in to pet the kitten and Toothless responded by taking a swipe at her hand. Pulling away from the kitten's sharp claws which had left four red marks on her hand, Merida glared at the beast. "Yer a wretched little bastard."

"What a horrible thing to say!" Rapunzel gasped, holding her hands over Toothless' large ears as though she thought she needed to keep the cat from hearing such a thing.

Merida rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Just don't tell ma mum, she doesn't know that Ah know how ta use such _dreadful language_. Says its _too unladylike_."

"You do things that your mother tells you not to?" Rapunzel asked, her eyes wide with horror.

"Doesn't everyone?" Merida asked with a shrug. "Ah also told her Ah was gonna talk ta housing about a room reassignment. Apparently it's _not proper_ for me ta be livin' with _boys_. Ah've got no intention of movin' everything around again."

"You lied to your mother?" Rapunzel asked, still more horrified.

"Haven't ye ever lied ta yers?

"No! That's an awful thing to do!" Rapunzel cried out before turning to Jack and Hiccup. "Can you believe she'd do something like that?"

"I've been hiding a cat in my bedroom for two and a half months because my Dad hates cats so much." Hiccup said with a shrug earning a horrified look from Rapunzel.

"You know, there are just some things that you don't tell your parents." Jack said with a smirk.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Jack through her dark lashes. "And just what kind of things do you think you should keep from your parents?"

"Well you don't tell your mom when you fool around, do you?"

"What's so secretive about playing games?" Rapunzel asked, raising an eyebrow.

Merida rolled her eyes at Jack, before turning to Rapunzel. "No, like fooling around in the bedroom."

When Rapunzel still didn't get it, Hiccup spoke up. "They're talking about having sex."

However, instead of her face lighting up with understanding, her expression remained blank and confused. Her roommates stared at her for a few moments before the blonde made a face that indicated she felt left out. "Okay, you guys can knock off the lingo. What are you actually talking about?"

It was Merida who finally broke the stunned silence. "Ye mean ye've never had '_the talk'_?"

"What talk?" Rapunzel asked, still looking utterly bewildered.

"Ye've never had _the talk_. She's never had _the talk_." Merida said in disbelief.

"What school did you go to?" Jack asked, making a face. "Didn't your classmates tell you _anything_?"

"I was home-schooled by my mother, so I didn't have any classmates."

"An' she never gave ye _the talk_?"

"Nope, can't say that she did." Rapunzel said with a shrug. "Can't you guys just give me _the talk_?"

"Alright, I'll take one for the team." Jack put up his hands as though surrendering, then turned to Rapunzel. "My room or yours?"

Before Rapunzel could answer, Merida butted in. "Oh no ye don't ye pervert!" She glared at Jack for a moment before turning to Rapunzel, her cheeks flushing redder and redder with each word. "Ah'm the only other girl here so Ah guess Ah should be the one ta do it."

"I was only joking, sheesh." Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't we all just give her _the talk_. That way everyone will be humiliated fairly." Hiccup said with a shrug.

"Tha's a grand idea!" Merida said in agreement.

Hiccup pulled out the chair beside him and gestured that Rapunzel should sit, before taking a seat himself, before speaking in his signature deadpan tone. "Prepare to have your innocence ripped away."

* * *

"Okay, so I understand that there are instances in which you do not tell your parents everything." Rapunzel said with a grimace, her cheeks still rather red.

"Ah don't need ta explain about yer period, do Ah?" Merida's face was beet red and while neither were blushing, both Hiccup and Jack looked really uncomfortable at the mention of menstrual cycles.

"Oh no, mother explained about that." Rapunzel said, evoking sighs of relief from all three of her roommates.

Merida looked the most relieved. "Thank God."

"And about my breasts. I already know all I need to know about that, or at least I do now."

"Perfect!" Merida said, relieved at the same time as Jack and Hiccup chorused. "Awww."

"You sure? 'Cause I'm pretty knowledgeable in that area." Jack offered before exchanging a glance with Hiccup, who actually looked rather disappointed and was certainly not looking as smug as Jack.

"She said no thank ye." Merida said, giving Jack _the look_. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing, and her hands flew to her forehead in alarm. "Oh my god, A'h turnin' inta my mum!"

"As fun as this has been," Hiccup began. "does anyone want to leave this topic alone now and watch a movie or something instead?"

"Aye, that'd be nice." Merida said with a nod. "What do ye have?"

"A bunch of them." Hiccup said with a shrug. "They're all in my room. You guys wanna come and choose one?"

* * *

**My apologies if that ruined your innocence too. 'Twas rated Teen for a reason.**

**Reviews are love! **


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